Format Lines and Paragraphs of Text in a Form Field

These instructions can also be used to format how text appears in a field both at the Form Document tab of the assembly window and in HotDocs Filler.

Sometimes you need to format the text within a multi-line text field. For example, perhaps you need to indent the first line of a paragraph, or maybe you need to adjust the number of lines that fit in an inch of vertical space. To do this, you can adjust the line format of a field.

To format lines and paragraphs

Edit a form template. (See Edit a Form Template .)
Create a multi-line field.
Attach a multi-line Text variable to the field. (See Customize a Text Variable.)
With the field selected, click the Field Properties button. The Field Properties dialog box appears.
Click the Layout tab. The view changes to show the different options for formatting the field.
In the Line Format group, complete one of the following options:

To	Do This
Indent the first line of text in the paragraph	Enter how much space to include between the margin of the field and the first character of the answer in the First line indent box. (You can either type the number or click the up or down arrows.)
Force a certain number of lines to appear in an inch of space in the field	Enter the number of lines in the Lines per inch box.
Indicate how many lines can appear in the field	Enter the number of lines in the Maximum lines box. If the answer contains more lines than is specified, the field will overflow.
Indicate the maximum number of characters that can appear in a given line of text	Enter the number of characters in the Max chars/line box. When the number of characters exceeds this limit, text will wrap to the next line.

If you are working with linked fields in a fillable PDF template and you plan to save the document assembled from the template as a fillable PDF, any changes you make to the linked field will not be honored in the saved fillable PDF. See Check Fillable Fields in a PDF Template for details.